Republican National Committee’s Haul, Target’s Contributions and More in Capital Eye Opener: February 22

Your daily dose of news and tidbits from the world of money and politics:

THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE’S LARGE HAUL: Under new Chairman Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee has made raised serious money. Roll Call reports that the party committee raised $5.7 million, of which $3.5 million came since the January 14 election of Priebus as chairman.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the RNC raised more than $196 million during the 2010 election cycle but spent more than $210 million during that same time period. It had more than $725,000 cash on hand but a debt running into the millions of dollars – a debt that persists despite the RNC’s rosier financial picture.

This was a significant decrease from the 2008 election cycle when the RNC raised more than $427.5 million and spent more than $301 million.

Priebus, former chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party, succeeded Michael Steele, who failed earlier this year to win another term as chairman.

Politicians are likely to benefit from the RNC’s large fund-raising haul. Some past beneficiaries include Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) who collected $21,300 in direct contributions from the RNC during the 2010 special election campaign.

The RNC also helped candidates with independent expenditures — money used to support or oppose federal political candidates, largely through advertisements. During the 2010 election cycle, the largest amount it spent on behalf of a single candidate was $85,000. Eight candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives benefited from this amount, although only three – Rep. Sandy Adams (R-Fla.), Rep. Dan Benishek (R-Mich.) and Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio) — won election.

TARGET TO QUIETLY CHANGE POLITICAL DONATIONS: After donations benefiting an anti-gay rights gubernatorial candidate last summer resulted in a backlash from customers and shareholders, Target Corp. is rethinking where to target its donations for the next election cycle, Kim Geiger and Noam Levey of the Los Angeles Times report.

As Open Secrets Blog noted, controversial state-level donations to MN Forward, which backed the anti-gay rights gubernatorial candidate, came from corporate treasuries rather than their PAC.

At the federal level, the Target Corp. PAC also proved to be active this past election cycle.

The PAC slightly favored Republicans, as it contributed $74,000 to the GOP’s U.S. Senate candidates and only $48,700 to Senate Democrats. The largest recipients were Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) who each received $10,000.

Among House candidates, Target’s PAC slightly favored Democrats in total, but its largest contributions all went to Republicans. For example, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Ohio) received a maximum $10,000 donation from the PAC.

CHRIS CHRISTIE’S LEADERSHIP PAC?: Despite repeated statements that he will not run for president in 2012, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) may soon create a federal leadership PAC if one of his top political adviser’s words are accurate.

Bill Palatucci said in an interview with the Courier-Post that “I might frankly contemplate [forming a committee.] There’s so much interest out there; it’s leaving money on the table by not having one.”

Many politicians create leadership PACs – including a few state-level officials or potential presidential candidates — to raise money on behalf of other candidates, often to foster goodwill or loyalty. They cannot be used to directly pay for a politician’s own campaign expenses, although some expenditures may potentially aid the politician in his or her own political endeavors.

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